The present invention relates to an apparatus for shooting of whole automobile tires, preferably into a cement rotary kiln, which apparatus comprises a gun barrel with a tire feed end and a tire shooting end, a charging device for placing automobile tires in the tire feed end of the gun barrel, and a device for generating compressed air for propelling the automobile tire through the gun barrel.
It is known practice from European patent specification No. 0382673 to utilize a pneumatic gun for shooting of drums containing waste material into the burning zone of a rotary kiln. This known gun is designed for shooting of difficult-to-handle waste products which exist in solid, particle and/or sludge form, and, for this reason, they are encapsulated in drums prior to the shooting. In the event that this known gun were to be used for shooting automobile tires, it would be necessary as a first step, because of the peculiar geometry of the tires, to cut the tires into shreds, subsequently pouring the shredded pieces into drums. In practice, such a preliminary treatment of the automobile tires would entail heavy costs, hence eliminating the incentive for using automobile tires as a fuel.